Tag: Religion

Healing miracles around the world

Craig Keener is a New Testament scholar who decided to test whether the accounts of miraculous healings in the Bible had parallels in reports today. He read hundreds of written accounts, interviewed hundreds of eye witnesses (including some of his in-laws in Africa) and obtained written documentation where he could, and wrote his findings up […]

40,000 christian denominations show the christian God doesn’t exist? (2)

A few days ago I looked at the number of christian denominations with different beliefs, as a first step to examining the argument that 40,000 denominations (as some said) showed that God couldn’t exist, or couldn’t get his act together. I concluded that there were not nearly so many differences in beliefs as that figure […]

40,000 christian denominations show the christian God doesn’t exist? (1)

It’s another common statistic and argument by critics of christianity: there are 30,000 to 40,000 christian denominations in the world, which shows that the christian God doesn’t exist, because he would communicate better. How good is the argument, and the statistics?

Religion statistics

I am a bit of a statistics nerd, so when I came across some stats on the world’s major religions in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, I couldn’t resist playing around with them. Note (2023): For updated statistics, see World’s biggest religion?

The loneliness of the long distance atheist?

The rise of a more assertive and public brand of atheism is a phenomenon of the last couple of decades. One feature of the so-called “new atheism” is its strong anti-religion stance. Not content to live and let live, many high profile atheists, and their internet followers, vehemently oppose religion, believing it is responsible for […]

A general practitioner of the web

This blog and the website are just over 18 months old, though they continue on from previous versions that go back years. I thought it might be appropriate, as 2013 begins, to review what I am aiming to do and what this site offers.

Michael Ruse on evolution and creation

I have commented before on philosopher and atheist Michael Ruse (Michael Ruse on why is there something rather than nothing?). Ruse specialises in the philosophy of science and religion, and a recent interview in Science on Religion is worth a read.

Do religious people do more good or harm?

The late Christopher Hitchens famously wrote that religion poisons everything. One aspect of this sort of conclusion is the claim that religious people do more harm than good. As Stephen Weinberg once said: With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that […]

Jesus – assessing the evidence fairly?

It seems like it has happened a hundred times, and maybe it has. I get into a conversation with a non-believer about Jesus, and the conversation takes a familiar path.

Christianity vs other religions

“When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours” So goes one of the arguments against christianity, or any other religion (quote attributed to Stephen Roberts). There is no more reason to believe in christianity than to believe in any other faith, it is said, so […]